I need some dream analysis, stat!

The first one is pretty obvious: my brother was playing around and set an electrical box on fire, thereby knocking out power to everything nearby. Yesterday a breaker at his house tripped so he had to reset it and in the past he's had a habit of angering/worrying me with antics. Simple enough.

Second one was much stranger. Obama lost in 2012 to a total out-of-nowhere candidate: George W. Bush. Yes, the previous president who has already done the legal limit of two terms. Hence out of nowhere. We didn't even know he was in the race, so I'm not sure how anyone even knew to vote for him. All in all, quite the surprise. But the bigger surprise was that I didn't seem to care much. Now that one has me all confused.

Am I worried about Jeb Bush? That can't be, since as I remember he's said he's not considering running before 2016. Maybe it's something far more sinister. Maybe Obama is acting a lot like our previous president, to the point that 2012 would be a win for President Bush rather than Senator Obama. Sorta makes me miss the good old days before he was sworn in and had no record to criticize.

The sequel that is a different game

Remember earlier when I said that Shadow of Chernobyl is a pile of crap and Call of Pripyat is awesome with an awesome glaze and some nice candles on top? Well I stand by that, but...

In terms of, what for lack of a better word, I will call technology, Cataclysm is leagues better than vanilla or BC. By technology I mean the tools that the devs have and use: phasing, looking for group tool, even achievements, have added to the potential story-telling or game-play potential. Boss mechanics are more interesting and complex, for better or worse. Spells can do a lot more. All sorts of bits are better.

Cataclysm is a better game. But is it really an expansion? Players frequently claim that WoW expansions aren't really expansions, just sequels. They mean that they don't expand our content options, but merely move us onto a new set of content. This is literally false, since expansions until LK haven't actually removed any content, but since WoW is based on progression and the expansions let us leapfrog the content late in the earlier cap, in a practical sense they are replacing them. In this context the earlier content is like Warcraft II; sure we can still fire up a game, but all our friends are playing Warcraft III, or in my case, my friends are playing EVE and City of Villains (no one is perfect), but that's beside the point.

So fine, let's call the expansions sequels. Are they even sequels? Let's rewind.

I have a confession to make: I sometimes make a claim out of ignorance. Usually this is based on an unknown unknown, things which I didn't even know I didn't know. In the case of SoC, I realized that the combat system, perhaps due to a popular mod, is not as bad as I thought, but I am certain of this: a crappy AK is not a good way to evaluate the aiming system of a game, since it can't hit anything anyway. Now I have better guns, with scopes (!), and I can reliably hit my targets, even at moderately long ranges, without needing to 'cheat' by using the crosshairs.

Still, I maintain that CoP is a better game than SoC. Being able to sell weapons or ammo to other stalkers is an improvement. Navigating dialogue with number keys: improvement. Upgrading weapons rather than hoping to stumble across an upgraded version in the middle of nowhere: improvement. Reducing the number of loading screen-separated zones from a dozen or so to three (minus a one-time area): improvement. Assigning hotkeys to inventory items rather than trying to dig through my bags for a first aid kit while someone is shooting at me: improvement. Though that last one is debatable, since it sure makes things more interesting when fights frequently feature thoughts like, "oh shit bleeding, red, oh god I'm dead in about two seconds, where is the first aid... got it! Click, no not drop, use use! Okay I'm alive, good. Now where did that guy sneak off to while I was panicing?" Bang. "Behind me, got it."

On the other hand, as I've played through both, I'm not sure I can call CoP a sequel. Sure, it takes place in the same universe and it is chronologically after SoC, but the feel of the game is a bit different, and I'm not even referring to the mechanics. SoC is based on two goals: figure out who you are and get to Chernobyl. CoP doesn't go anywhere near Chernobyl. The character in CoP has an entirely different background and goal, being utterly alien to the first. Obviously it would be lame if CoP was a repeat: go to Chernobyl and marvel at the improved mechanics and graphics. But for most of the game CoP is like a tangent, feeling as if the stories are almost entirely unrelated.

Beside this there is a major atmospheric shift. I'm easily frightened, so going underground in CoP would make me nervous and jittery. SoC made it looks like a well-lit wonderland, because dammit, it's fucking dark! In CoP I developed a major fear of a mutant called a Burer and had a minor fear of Bloodsuckers, while Snorks just made me want to huddle in a corner. In contrast, in SoC Bloodsuckers are sorta sad to mow down with ease, there are no burers, and snorks remain the only enemy that really scares me. But the environment... It's darker, it's more cramped, it's louder, with shit clanking all over and what the hell was that sound why is there something crashing around in what is supposed to be an abandoned lab? Even outside was eerier.

In short form, Call of Pripat is definitely a fun game, but in terms of atmosphere and story, I'd barely call it a Stalker game, if we're saying that Shadow of Chernobyl defined the series. No comment on Clear Sky because I haven't played it.

I've seen a similar pattern in WoW. Burning Crusade dramatically changed the atmosphere of WoW. Necessary? Probably. Vanilla had a lot of dark undead places and burning orc and dragon places in the late game. Burning Crusade couldn't just add more of the same, so we had purple crystals, divine windchimes, and demons with green technology, by which I mean the technology turned stuff into a hellish evil green, which sorta makes Al Gore look bad. Wrath of the Lich King brought back undead, but added a twist: cold. Then Cataclysm switched it all over the place and made an entire zone based on scaring people who are afraid of water.

As for the stories, it's been similarly all over the place. The Scourge was left damaged, but nowhere near destroyed when we went off to Outland. Then we all got in ships and went to fight the Scourge. Problem solved! World blows up. In actuality LK and Cataclsym returned to old stories from vanilla: the Scourge and Twilight's Hammer (Old God cultists), respectively, but how long ago was that? Long ago. Returning to the central theme can still seem tangential if you've been away from it for long enough.

Of course this is highly subjective. For one person the mechanical improvements can seem like dramatic gameplay changes, while another player may see major changes as relatively minor and inconsequential in the overall theme or style of the game. Have you run across similar examples where a sequel, or expansion, so dramatically changed a game that it is barely recognizable as being from the same company in the same universe?

As a parting example: Knights of the Old Republic was awesome, however while Pazaak (same general idea as Blackjack, but with the skill-luck mix tipped more toward skill) was a neat game, the hardwired cheating by the computer (it always went second) made it a lot less fun than it could have been. Knights of the Old Republic II had a much improved Pazaak game (alternating starts!), but at times seemed slightly off, as if it were somehow unfinished or rushed. Big surprise, it was. So let's end with some appreciation of Blizzard's slow-as-frozen-molasses development speed.

Why the Goblin will be a Socialist

What was the defining aspect of Stalin? Socialism? Wrong. Socialism is a system and for him, a tool. Instead the defining element is who he was, that is, a self-obsessed, heartless individual who regarded others as tools, means to ends, specifically, his ends.

Manipulating the system, any system, to gain for oneself regardless of how it harms others? Sound familiar? Yep, that's Applied Goblinism for you.

All systems can be abused and twisted, so we must not let down our guard, because that is when the sociopaths come out. The ecoterrorist, the Taliban, the goblin, none of them care about you, only their fanatical beliefs, and whether that is worship of nature, Allah, or their own egos, the unifying element is a belief that humanity has no value by itself.

What Happened On Whiny Post Day:

There was whining, of course, but more shocking, some people didn't whine. Shame on them. SHAME.

You know who you are and if you're not bawling, screeching, obnoxiously, irritatingly whining next year, I'm going to... Uh. I'll whine about it some more.

Bubblespec!
Whiny Post Day: Confused Questgivers
You spelled my name wrong. But as for the actual content of the post: bad cooks are bad, but please be nice to us, we feel awful about it.

Murloc Parliament!
Whiny Post Day: It Should All Be Named After ME!
I do not approve of murloc domination. I prefer to be brutally oppressed by my own kind, thank you very much.
I think I missed last year's Terrestrial Ichthyological Discrimination

Specced for Drama!
Wine-y Post Day
Puns are not whiny, as much as we might all whine about them. Also, Klep is the sound of a one-legged horse and I am most certainly not the sound of a one-legged horse. Please refer to me by my full fake name.

Revive and Rejuvinate!
Whine Time
Six months of no raiding? Whatever. Back in my day we didn't raid for six months, or six months, no one raided because back in my day we all sucked too much to raid and dammit, did we whine about it? Well, yes, we did, constantly, and then it all kinda went downhill.

You Yank It, You Tank It!
I’ll Wipe to Prove a Point or Why I Probably Shouldn’t Heal
An elitist tank recognizing that healing could be trouble. I agree completely. Healing is scary.

Mysterious Buttons!
Whine, whinge, moan
"Why is it whiny post day when I’m in the middle of writing a “you’re all whining unnecessarily, everything’s lovely and shiny and the dungeon finder introduces me to wonderful people” post? Way to completely kill my flow." Now you're getting the idea.

If I missed your whine, please link it and I'll add it in. I'd hate to leave anyone out of this once-a-year glorious festival of unwarranted negativity.

And for the ones that I forgot because I'm bad.

Priest With A Cause
Whiny Post Day: Let me 'ave 'em!
Impatience (wah wah wah I have to run the instance all over again) poorly disguised as patience (I stayed for the whole run).

Re: There is no “Faeldray” in “Community”

During a recent wandering I stumbled across this post. It felt a bit like something I'd have written, if I was capable of maintaining a point and not randomly and uncontrollably bouncing between sincerity and sarcasm. I don't feel like I even have much to add to it, but a few bits really stood out, feeling like they were somehow ripped off, telepathically.

I will admit to not being the most social person in the world. In fact, I will readily agree that I am rather shy and anti-social. Large crowds and new people make me slightly nervous and uncomfortable, so it should be unsurprising that I have few friends, but they are close ones. I’m picky with my friends and frankly, I like it that way.

I'm not really a people person. I'm friendly and polite if I remember to be, not that I'm intentionally rude, but all this people stuff, it's quite difficult.

In high school, I was one of those who stood outside most of the drama and cliques and simply watched this real-life soap opera unfold around me. I wasn’t popular but neither was I despised. I have come to realize that this is also my position within the WoW blogging “community”. I’m never someone who’s named when popular or long-timed bloggers are praised, but hey, at least I’m never caught in the crossfire of all the mud slinging.

Not quite true in my case, since I have wandered, and by wandered I mean intentionally run into, a few fights, but often I feel like I'm in my own little corner here where sometimes people wander over to see what I'm muttering about, usually Tesh, saying something to the effect of "how interesting", followed by what is obviously a strained smile and a nervous quick backtrack. I swear that was all meant to sound ironic rather than emo.

I’m certain that Eff the Ineffable is a great guild. Just as I am certain that not all bloggers belong to their own created factions that war with each other and look down their noses at “lesser” bloggers. There are bloggers who are kind and friendly, who always make you feel welcome and a part of something bigger than you are. Maybe one day I’ll even get to know some of them better and be able to call them my friends.

This did strike me as a bit ironic, since to me this describes Larisa, except the post overall is essentially saying "Larisa, you're wrong about the blogging community."

Maybe the problem is a failure to agree on the meaning of community.

Exceptional American Stupidity

Part one: You're hurting my feelings

Are we all familiar with the idea of American Exceptionalism? Yes? I'm not seeing everyone raising their hands. Okay quick tally, who here is an American? European? Politician? Got it, only the second two know what I'm talking about. Loosely speaking, it's the idea that America is somehow better or beyond the usual notions of how to interact with the world, that we can have unlimited military power and use it to spread peace and democracy, and everyone will love us because we're just so amazing.

I suspect it might be a myth.

But I also suspect that a whole lot of people have bought into it and those people aren't just politicians selling a war. I think an entirely different group has bought into it: people who laugh at Americans being stupid.

I have an idea for you: Americans might not be much more stupid or ignorant than the rest of the world, but instead the myth of American exceptionalism has morphed into the myth of Exceptional American Stupidity. The central element is still that America is special, except now it's 'special', the sort that we say sarcastically while imitating a mildly amusing but mostly offensive comedian.

So stop calling us stupid. I will, of course, not stop, because for some reason it's okay to stereotype, generalize, and broadly demonize one's own group. And of course, Europeans.

Part two: British people

Part of the American narrative is one of being a beacon of democracy, a "city on a hill", an example for the world of how you can all be so much better if only you were more like us. Also, make sure you vote for thinly veiled Christian laws, not thinly veiled Muslim laws. In other words, it's not the theocratic oppression that matters, it's the veils.

But are we really the shining beacon of democracy, the big power from which freedom sprung? I suggest: no.

Shouldn't that go to Britain? After all, our revolution was, among other things, based heavily on our rights as British citizens. It wasn't so much "fuck you England!" as "we hereby request the full recognition and implementation of our rights as Citizens of the Crown as guaranteed by the... oh gosh I appear to have been shot, I shall declare this a massacre and call for revolution, 'YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION WELL YOU KNOW*...' Freedom mother fucker! Which in this time 'fucker' is just a way of say 'strike', so it's still pretty bad because I'm saying you abuse women." My point is this: England invented freedom. Or maybe it was Greece, but let's face it, Greece was a bunch of whiny nothings. Their only significant contributions to the world were half-assed democracy, pointlessly long stories with half-assed philosophy (thereby beating Ayn Rand by a few thousand years), and naked Olympics. The only time they got serious about their conquests were when being led by a Macedonian. Where is Macedonia? Right yes, it's that place right by Greece, which makes sense. Anyway, my point is that England invented freedom that was applied to a significantly larger portion, but not the entirely, of the ruled population, excluding colonies, protectorates, and Ireland (we wouldn't want your damn Protestant freedom anyway!).

England just doesn't get enough credit. It's like we completely skip over their contribution to democracy, which was to deny democracy to Benjamin Franklin, thereby causing him to invent a device to spread it around the world, which we eventually misnamed as America.

Part three: But in Soviet Russia...

What if the King of England hadn't been a gigantic dick and had given the upstart colonies the rights they demanded? In this inverted world, would America have grown into a superpower still united with England? World War II might have turned out differently if England's declaration of war following Germany's invasion of Poland (or did they wait until Belgium?) had been backed up by Americans from the start, walking in and kicking some ass, with General Patton personally killing Hitler, of course at the request of the King. Could this pattern have been maintained, with Britain not oppressing, and therefore retaining control of, India? Pakistan too, since that split came after the war of independence. Imagine, if the King of England hadn't been a gigantic dick, the world might have been unified under England in eternal peace and accents which give the impression of legitimacy (I love the BBC and it's convenient that Al Jazeera English seems to use kidnapped BBC reporters).

On the other hand, if you're not using it to brutally exploit and oppress people, what is the point of power? This is, of course, what Marx got wrong with his theory of Communism as a historical inevitability. If you can't use it to randomly maim poor people, why even bother to build a factory? Wealth? Obviously that's out. Personal drive? A myth. Speaking of economic models: mercantilism, it failed, partly due to a moronic obsession with gold, does this have any relevance in modern times?

Part four: I spent five hours waiting for car repairs and what is left of my sanity is long gone, how the hell do people watch daytime TV?

I guess the bold title gave it away.

Part five: Making fun of Greece some more

Their version of democracy? Gone. Their philosophy? Retained only for the purpose of being an obnoxious twat who asks pointless questions. The sole positive effect was this recent xkcd. Their Olympics? Not naked anymore. Meanwhile the Arab World (wherever that is) gets overlooked, despite having given us great ideas like a system of numbers that works really well for all sorts of mathematics. Position-based value is awesome. Every tried doing calculus with Roman numerals? AWFUL.

* Is it just me or is this a rather anti-revolutionary song?

One Good Thing About Respawns

Sometimes I wish I hadn't had such an effect on the world I'm in.

In Oblivion my thief-type guy developed a habit of killing just about anyone he came across and could get away with killing. Since named NPCs don't respawn, though quest-related ones will be merely knocked unconscious, this meant that by the time I was done, I'd killed off most of the wandering civilians and about half the shopkeepers. The streets were strangely empty, even before the demonic invasion.

When I made a caster-type to see how that would play, I was confused at the NPCs all over the place, talking and gathering here and there. The shops were even filled with goods. How odd!

Similarly, my guy in Stalker was curious about what would happen if I shot a Duty guy in the face. That's the big militant group that I mentioned before. Well, they called in a lot of help, including from sympathetic non-member. The result? Half the trade hub dead. They have ever so slowly been respawning with new randomly generated names, but it's still a bit more empty than it was.

This brings us to the strange problem of MMOs with factions: we want our enemies to die and stay dead, but it's not fun having our own cities emptied out. Since one faction's enemies are the other side's allies, everything respawns. Nothing stays dead, whether we want it to or not.

There Must Always Be a Lich King.

If Grommak the Ham Merchant dies, let Grimmok take his place. We might not notice the names changing, but it's at least a small acknowledgment that we did actually kill someone, without causing mass complaint over the sudden inability to purchase hams in Orgrimmar.

Worth learning to play

This post isn't just about Stalker, so if you're sick of hearing about it, do a word search for "stalker" and then pretend the paragraphs are minesweeper to pick what to read. Fun for everyone!

While watching a documentary on the aftermath of Chernobyl I was surprised to learn that it is still being actively researched, though perhaps less than it should. Stupidly, I was also surprised to see that there are all sorts of paths around the plant to get near the reactor. I'd seen schematics of it, so I should have figured out that all the rooms around it, have doors. So of course after watching it, my first thought was "dear God, we're all totally fucked." Apparently the lid, or just about anything else, could suddenly fall in, releasing a huge cloud of radioactive dust. My theory is that Chernobyl is going to get jealous that Japan is getting so much attention and might, let's say, throw a tantrum. A giant radioactive tantrum.

Second thought: I want to go there too! However that would be expensive, unsafe, and time-consuming. So instead I booted up Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl again (the one that I said was awful) and decided that I'd push through the main story just for the chance to virtually visit a recreation of the plant, though obviously with a few more mutated and highly aggressive creatures, as well as religious fanatics, and something called a Brain Scorcher. Sounds fun.

So I pushed on and decided I'd figure this shit out and just get it done. Well next thing I knew I was starting a war with one of the militant groups in the area and I've greatly enjoyed the resulting violence and weapons I took from them. It's much more interesting when I have to kill at least three people just to get into the bar. Incidentally, this makes for really inconvenient travel when merely entering the otherwise safe trade hub means a brief shootout. The guys I started the fight with, Duty, are all pretty much wiped out, along with anyone else who followed their instructions to "eliminate the enemy." Makes the place a bit more lonely, but that's for another day.

The combat is still a bit odd, and the trading is still awkward, but I've managed to get used to it. I just have to be more careful. The actual gameplay and story is pretty decent past that. This is an example of a game that I'd call worth learning to play.

In contrast are shooters on the Wii. Now and then when my brother visits he brings up one of his games and I give it a shot. Pun not intended, but convenient. The latest one was CoD: Black Ops. The story was interesting and of course shooting is always pretty fun. But the controls. Ugh. I'm completely used to a keyboard and mouse. Point and click violence. I'm used to the desk moderating my movements, slowing them and providing friction, so I expect to use a certain amount of force to aim and steer. Using the mouse and keyboard has been taught to me ten times over, from FPSs, RPGs, and of course every single computer operation that I've ever done. Blogging? Mouse and keyboard, mostly keyboard, but some mouse work. I can pretty reliably and quickly move the mouse from the title field to the post field, and then down to the post options button, over to date and time, and so on. Bam bam bam.

It's worth learning how to use a computer. It's a somewhat universal, versatile skill. Gaming, work, long-distance communication, they all use this form of input.

But shooters on the Wii? No. So great, I can play a few more games, but at what cost? Time and frustration. I just get flat out frustrated trying to aim with the Wiimote. And move. None of the muscle memory is there. It's not even like sports which tend to use some minor variation of movements we have anyway: kicking, throwing, bouncing; these are pretty universal actions which are not restricted to a single game or even set of games.

Learn to play? Yea sure, oh wait, no. Why am I going to spend time to learn to play something that isn't any more fun than other, similar activities which don't have the learning curve?

Somewhere in the middle for me are the silly games, like Boomblox. The controls are much simpler and for the most part I'm in no rush, so I can take the time to gradually figure things out. The frustration factor isn't there. Except... oh except for that one stupid level where the sheep seem to commit suicide five seconds into the level and meanwhile the stupid remote isn't properly registering my obviously amazing throwing so the blocks aren't falling down right and... Okay so there's a little bit of frustration factor. I don't like losing and the Wii is a whole new way to lose.

More toward the worthwhile end are the plastic guitar games. Pretending to know how to play guitar, without needing to actually get a guitar and demonstrate that I don't know how to play, is pretty damn fun. Variable difficulty? Awesome! Though I have the backward problem that the lowest difficulty is harder than medium: it's so damn slow that I cannot get any sense of rhythm at all, so instead I'm stuck mashing when I think it's time, which it usually isn't. It helps that my brother has the Beatles game (are there more than one?) so I know the tune more or less, even if colored buttons aren't really playing it.

Speaking of worthwhile: World of Warcraft. Doesn't it suck when something goes wrong and your UI is entirely reset? Awful! Gotta remember all the bindings, UI placement, which addons are enabled on which character. Takes a whole lot of time. But at least in this case muscle memory helps. I want to cleanse myself... oh I keep mashing alt-1, that must be cleanse! I played for about five and a half years, made some new friends, and ended up here, with a small blog that manages to entertain more than just me. WoW was definitely worth the learn to play curve.

On the other hand: raiding. As nice as it is to get that kill after really fighting for it, the thrill has gradually worn off, to be replaced by frustration. The fight-specific dances mean that whatever I'd learned before is almost entirely wasted. The recent expansion throwing out all learned rotations and priorities didn't help. Learn to play? No thanks.

In closing: EVE, worth learning to play? Then again, I don't quite have the money to spare; I donated my monthly sub to public radio. Take that, Republicans!